Graveside Service

We are here today to remember the life of Brett Legna. Let’s begin with a brief prayer. If you know it please say it along with me:

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

[Insert obit/eulogy info]

When I met with some of his siblings a couple days ago they shared some things about Brett. As we talked a tear or two was shed, but mostly there was a lot of laughter as first one, then another shared memories of Brett’s life.

They told me he was the baby of the family. Brett was a lifelong Steelers and Buckeyes fan. They told me he had a very serious thing about the barbecue sauce from a particular shop in Columbus.

They said that of all the kids he was the only one who ever mastered a musical instrument. They said he was generous, even to the point of often sharing his home with someone with no place else to go.

They told me so many things. But those little snippets cannot come close to capturing all that his life meant. In so short of a time I cannot do justice to that life. You knew Brett. Alas, I did not. Rather than me telling you about him, I’m going to pause for just a few moments to let you remember again your favorite memory of Brett. [pause]

Suppose I was to ask, what time is it? You would look at your watch and say it’s a little after one. Let me ask again. What time is it?

The Bible tells about a king who lived about 3000 years ago. His name was Solomon and he is supposed to have been one of the wisest men who ever lived.

During a sad season of his life he wrote these words:

For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

It says there is a time for everything including a time to be born and a time to die. Two dates on a tombstone with just a dash between them. How appropriate.

You’ve probably noticed that people today live life at a frantic pace. Why are we in such a hurry? There are lots of reasons, but much of our scurrying is about chasing after the one thing that eludes most people. People everywhere want fulfillment. I’ll let you in on a secret. There is one—and only one—way to find genuine fulfillment and that is to fulfill the reason for which we exist. Do you know why you exist?

Your creator created you for his own pleasure. He gave you the gift of breath, of heartbeat, of brain function in order to enjoy you and for you to enjoy him. Life is his gift.

What is this life that he has given us? Some say that life is nothing more than a biological function. But surely we’re more than a mass of protoplasm. Another way to look at life is to say that life is time. When a person dies we often say their time was up.

Subconsciously we’re all aware how little time we really have, so we try to cram as much into it as we can. We want our lives to count. When we come to the end of our days we want our lives to have meant something. But how do you measure a life?

Our natural inclination is to grab hold of stuff (power/wealth/family/status/etc). We measure our lives by what we can wrap our fingers around and call our own. How much of that can you keep for eternity? Doesn’t it make sense to turn loose of the stuff that will rust or rot and grab hold of something that will last forever? A missionary who was later martyred for his faith once said, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

God has a different measuring stick for our lives than we have. He says to get we must give; to grow in prestige we must shrink in humility, perhaps most shocking, he says to truly live we must die. He says to each of us, “If you want your life to have genuine meaning, completely surrender it to me.”

Perhaps you’re thinking to yourself something like this, “This is the only life I get. If I’m going to give it up it’s going to have to be for something worthwhile.” Is giving our lives to God worthwhile?